Eben M. Stout

Rank: Private, U.S. Army

Unit: 369th Infantry Regiment, 93rd Infantry Division

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: September 26, 1918

Buried at: Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne, France — Plot C, Row 41, Grave 14

Private Eben M. Stout was the son of George and Isabella Stout. The Stouts were from East Dover, Kent County, Delaware. George Stout was working as a farm laborer in 1880; the family at that time included one daughter, Rose. Sons George Henry and Eben followed. The Stouts came to Camden around 1890. When the 1900 Census was taken, the family lived at 1009 Chestnut Street, the elder Stout then working as a day laborer. Eben Stout, however, was living at the State Home for Boys in Middlesex County. When the Census was taken in 1910, George H. Stout had married and was living at 833 Chestnut Street with his wife Francis. Eben M. Stout had come to Camden and was living at 708 Silver Street with Louisa Wesley, a 33-year-old widow. He was then working as a laborer at a chemical plant.

Eben Stout enlisted in the Army on November 28, 1917. He had been living with his brother at 1140 South 10th Street in Camden, NJ. He was sent to Camp Merritt to become a member of Company M, 15th New York National Guard Regiment. This unit was reorganized and became Company M, 369th Infantry Regiment, and sailed for France in January of 1918.

The 369th Infantry Regiment is popularly known as the Harlem Hellfighters. The regiment was originally constituted as the 15th New York Infantry Regiment in 1913 in the New York Army National Guard. It was organized on June 29, 1916 at New York City, and mustered into Federal service on July 25, 1917 at Camp Whitman, New York. The regiment trained in the New York area and also in South Carolina, where they experienced significant racism from the local communities and other units. The regiment shipped out from the New York Port of Embarkation on December 27, 1917, and joined its brigade in France, but the unit was initially relegated to Labor Service duties rather than combat training. It was reorganized and redesignated on March 1, 1918 as the 369th Infantry Regiment and continued labor service while awaiting a decision on its deployment.

On April 8, 1918, it was decided to assign the regiment to the French Army for the duration of United States participation in the war. The men were issued French helmets and brown leather belts and pouches, although they continued to wear their U.S. uniforms. The 369th Infantry Regiment went into the trenches as part of the 16th French Division and served continuously to July 3rd. The regiment returned to combat in the Second Battle of the Marne, holding a section of trenches near Butte du Mensil from July 23rd to August 19th. On August 19th, the regiment went off the line for rest and training of replacements.

When the French Fourth Army advanced northward in the Champagne on September 26th, the three regiments of the 93rd American Division were included as units in the French divisions of the IX Corps. The 369th Infantry, attached to General Lebouc’s 161st Division, entered a gap in the line during the first day and took the town of Ripont, capturing a number of prisoners and several pieces of artillery.

Private Eben Stout was killed in action on the first day of this offensive, September 26, 1918.